


The In Between Spaces

by likebunnies



Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: Barn Sex, Beach Sex, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Friends to Lovers, Light Angst, Partners to Lovers, Post-Episode s03e16, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-29 20:11:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6391600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likebunnies/pseuds/likebunnies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a space between them now. </p><p>READ THE NOTES. PLEASE.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. And He Just Drove Away

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of people know how I feel about the latest episode, Dawn’s Early Light. This fic doesn’t try to ignore some of the things that happened but tries to put them into perspective of what could happen next. Yes, that means there is Danny and Abbie and a discussion with Crane. BUT I had to end it on a good note. No, that doesn’t mean Ichabbie smut in this case but maybe later as far as my headcanon for this story is concerned. You can read it because you trust me as a writer. You can ignore it because you hate this show now. You can just read the last little part. I tried my best to make it make sense to me without making any character into something more or less than they are… human. It picks up near the end of the episode. In between scenes.
> 
> WRITTEN AND POSTED BEFORE DELAWARE AIRED but edited for one thing afterward.

Her phone buzzed on the nightstand and Abbie sighed. It was the middle of the night. Just one night could there be no demons or banshees or what the hell ever else might stop by Sleepy Hollow at this ungodly hour? Was that really too much to ask? She pulled herself out of the comfort of Danny’s arms and fumbled for the phone as quietly as she could.

“Abs…” Danny muttered.

“Hmm…”

She found the phone and was trying to make sense of Crane’s text.

“Is he going to do this all the time? We’ve only been back together for what? Eight hours? And he’s already texting you?” Danny asked. He propped himself up on an elbow and looked at Abbie. She was still trying to figure out why Crane needed her somewhere by sunrise.

“You sound like a jealous boyfriend,” Abbie said, quickly using her phone to look up what time sunrise was and how long it would take to get to that particular park.

“Should I be? You spend most of your time with him. He texts you whenever he feels like. Hell, Abs. He lives on your back porch!” Danny said, trying to not sound too petulant about the whole thing but he didn’t like this dude around Abbie all the time. Whatever she claimed he was, he was still a man and he had to see that Abbie was beautiful and desirable.

“Danny, he and I are… complicated.”

Abbie had spent an hour last night trying to fill him in on how she and Crane were the Witnesses from the book of Revelation but she wasn’t ready to tell him everything about Crane. Like that he had been dead for all of the 19th and 20th centuries.

“Is complicated a new word for friends with benefits?”

“Damn, Danny! Is that what you really think of me? That I could be here with you and then just sneak off to be with him after breakfast? No, he and I are… we are what we are, okay? He has never once tried anything on me or suggested anything the whole time he has been… here. He’s like that. I’m sure he wouldn’t unless I expressly said that I wanted such a thing,” Abbie said. Crane was so hard to explain. Even she spent a lot of the time when his wife was still alive trying to figure out what he was all about. Now there were days she could figure him out even less.

“Do you want such a thing?” Danny asked. Abbie typed out a response to Crane that she’d be there and put her phone aside.

“Would I be here with you if that’s what I wanted? I’d be at home. So no. This is what I want,” Abbie said to Danny. She rolled onto her side and pulled his face down to hers, kissing him. After a minute, he pulled away from her her touch.

“Speaking of home, where’s he going to go? Now that we’re… this. I mean, I’d like to be able to stop by your house, maybe spend the night, without him lurking around the kitchen and pouring everyone tea,” Danny said, his hand stroking the side of her face. Abbie’s hair was still wrapped up in a scarf and she was thankful she had some exercise clothes and a little make up along with her if she was going to go straight to this park to meet Crane. Crane who lived in her house and had to have noticed she never came home last night. Hence the texting.

“I don’t know yet, okay? This is new and I haven’t thought it all through. Maybe he can go stay in the archives again–”

“The archives?”

“Yeah, more that I’ll have to explain. It’s part of that building Crane has been working on making an historical landmark. You’ll see. It will all make sense… or more sense. It still doesn’t all make sense to me all the time,” Abbie said with a nervous laugh. She thought him finding out about the monsters was going to cover all of it and now she was realizing just how wrong she was. Three years spent with Crane and he wanted it all explained in one night. What they were to each other really wasn’t that easy.  
Danny was easy. Sort of. Neither of them really thought that through too far, either. If this was something they both wanted, they couldn’t keep working in the same office. What happened today in his office was bad enough for both of their careers. It could all be career ending.

They would have to both be agents, neither of them the agent in charge. She knew he wouldn’t want to take that step backward. He was far too ambitious for that. And she had too many other responsibilities she didn’t even start to tell him about.

“One of us might have to transfer for a while,” Danny said as if he was reading her mind. He had actually thought about it before she had even showed up in his office, just in case this day ever arrived. Now he didn’t really understand how all of these new dynamics were going to work with any plans he might have considered.

“I can’t exactly leave Sleepy Hollow,” Abbie said. Now she was propped up on an elbow and they were facing one another. “My mission is here.”

“You mean Crane is here.”

“We are the Witnesses. If I transfer to Tulsa… I don’t know, Danny. You figure that part out. If I transfer, the world ends. If you transfer, there was no point in starting this up again. All this for one night,” Abbie said, flopping down on her pillow. “One night.”

“I don’t want it to just be one night, Abs. I want this to last. We can figure that out, can’t we?” Danny pleaded. “I’ll look into what can be done when I get back in the office. Talk to a few people to see what’s out there. We will take this one step at a time and it will be you and me together… and both of our careers on track… and your other thing.”

“My mission to save the world?” Abbie asked to see if he was really going to take this seriously.

“That does sound ridiculous when you say it out loud,” he said with a little laugh. Abbie sighed and turned and looked at the clock on the nightstand. She was going to have to start getting ready if she was going to meet Crane on time. This discussion was going to have to be continued later. Yet, somehow she knew parts of the problem were going to be impossible to solve. Danny took her hand in his and kissed it. “Will I see you later?”

“Once I’ve found out what Crane has discovered, I’ll let you know. Things are happening around here. I told you that. Things he and I have to take care of and quickly,” Abbie answered.

“Stopping the end of the world and all that. Is that the reason you spent the night last night? You’re afraid you’re going to die in the next few days? Why not your roommate since you’re probably going to die together, right?”

This time, Abbie didn’t have an answer for him.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Crane watched as the sun rose above the horizon and the map of the way to the Catacombs faded away. He had it memorized by then and knew he could draw it perfectly when he got to the archives. Abbie stood, looking around and then at him.

“How did you get here?” she asked.

“I walked,” he answered simply. He folded up the flag again and tucked it securely in his coat.

“Ah.”

“I worked until late into the night at the archives, as I said earlier, experimenting with Betsy’s flag and then made my way home on foot. I assumed you might have also been working late… or filling Agent Reynolds in on more about your role as Witness. I texted you when it dawned on me what was needed in order to figure out the flag and you still weren’t home. I would not have disturbed you had I not felt it was important,” Crane said. He didn’t look at her at all through any of that. He didn’t expect her to have to share with him where she really was. Fences, hedges, and good neighbors.

“Let’s go. It’s a little chilly here and I could use… well, not coffee. What do people drink in the morning besides coffee that’s hot and not loaded with caffeine?” Abbie asked and Crane knew she was just deflecting her way out of any conversation. “Let’s just get to the archives and work on what’s next.”

“Yes. Let’s.”

Abbie handed him the keys to her car and he got in on the driver’s side, the seat making a whoosh as he slid it back for his height. She sat beside him, her seatbelt fastened, and looked out the window. As they headed toward the archives, neither of them had much to say beyond whether they should stop and get doughnuts or if the air temperature was satisfactory. This was completely different from their recent trips to Boston and Baltimore when they had talked nonstop about everything from Pandora to Joe and Jenny and how when this particular tribulation was over, Crane’s next road trip should involve driving them to the beach. Now… nothing.

“I…” Abbie started to say but he put a finger in the air to quiet her.

“There is nothing to be explained, Miss Mills,” he said. Her stomach sank when he called her that. Not Abbie like when he was on the floor dying. Not even Lieutenant right at this moment. No, she was a respectable Miss Mills. A way to create distance.

“Okay.”

“You did say you were open to changes in your life. This will be a change for the better, I presume. A change toward happiness and peace. You deserve nothing less after your months of solitude. You deserve companionship,” Crane said, looking straight forward at the road.

“It’s a change for sure,” she said. The night had been nice. Wonderful. They spent some time rediscovering each other but it wasn’t as magical as that weekend at the seashore. That weekend where she walked away from it all and back to… she didn’t know where she was going then. She just knew she had to get away.

“I understand that this signals the end of the time I can be a guest in your household–”

 _“What?!_ Crane, I never said that–” she started but he interrupted her again.

“If we survive this trip to the Catacombs, I will move my lodgings to the archives or down to the Masonic cell. Hopefully, there will be some quiet for us between tribulations like the last time. Maybe I’ll travel again. I still haven’t seen the Pacific Ocean. I’d like to,” Crane said.

No, he didn’t want to leave but there was no way he could stay with all of this going on. Miss Jenny and Master Joe were content… mostly. Abbie deserved the chance to find that happiness and contentment, too. And he deserved the chance to figure out what he was once more without out her. But this time, without all the silence. He knew it couldn’t be like that again.

“I haven’t even seen the Pacific,” Abbie commented and it sounded funny when she said it. A little bit too wistful, like she’d be missing out on something.

“It’s just a dream at the moment but please know that wherever I go this time, you will be able to contact me at a moment’s notice. I’ll not disappear like I did after… I won’t do that I again, I promise you that. My phone will always be at my side,” Crane said.

“Just don’t go into the ocean with it at your side. We don’t want to have to replace another one,” Abbie said. He almost smiled.

“Ah, but the ocean is a long ways off, Miss Mills. And we have a journey of our own to make before I can even consider it,” Crane said, and Abbie sighed at the thought of the Catacombs and dreamed of that faraway ocean, too.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Crane stood where the ocean met the land, hands clasped behind his back, watching as the sun slowly sank toward the horizon. The water was different than the Atlantic, more churning and cold from where he was looking out over it. Everyone had assumed he was taking off on his motorbike for a trip across the country to California but he chose the state named after the general he once knew.

He and Abbie had survived the Catacombs and stopped yet another apocalypse. After she returned from that wretched place for the second time, her happiness was all that mattered to him. That meant that he stayed in touch from the road, texting her just enough so that she knew where he was and that he was safe and not like she feared – “dead in a ditch” somewhere. She would text him back with a simple “okay” or an emoji of her choosing. That’s all he needed at this point. He didn’t need to know anything more, just that she was happy and that the monsters hadn’t returned to Sleepy Hollow as of yet.

A few other people had come out to the beach to see the sunset, many settling down with chairs or blankets on the sand, but Crane remained standing, waiting to see how many colors the sky would dazzle the onlookers with on this fair night. A young couple he recognized from the campgrounds he was staying at waved at him and he nodded politely as they giggled, playing and chasing each other near the water’s edge. Watching them, he found he couldn’t lie to himself. He missed his friends. He missed Abbie. He missed having whatever those two had. He didn’t know if he meant the younger pair or the Lieutenant and Agent Reynolds.

It was his own fault. He should have said something about how he felt about her. If she didn’t feel the same, he could have tried harder with Zoe or met someone else. Now too many words had gone unspoken and he would just be left wondering. He always thought that then when she was ready, she would say something, never imagining she was ready… just not with him.

A few things had changed since he left Sleepy Hollow this time. Once again, his hair was shorter so it was less of nuisance under the helmet for miles and miles on the road. When she had helped him pick out a bike, Miss Jenny had insisted he wear leathers whilst riding but he was back to his favorite coat and breeches now that he had reached land’s end. And some things would never change. His boots. Motorcycle or beach, they remained. As did his stiff, regimental stance.

Which is how Abbie picked him out so easily, looking like a dry docked pirate, watching the sea, hoping that his ship would return to him. She laced her arm into the crook of his elbow, startling him. He looked down to find her staring out at the ocean, a slight smile gracing her lips.

“Lieutenant,” he said, moving his hands so they were now folded in front of him but making sure her arm ended up still tucked in his. “Did I forget to check in? I believe I did.”

Now she looked up at him, resisting the urge to touch his shorter hair and beard that wasn’t much more than scruff. They probably needed to talk first before she did any of those things. They had a lot to talk about and Abbie knew none of it could be done by text and emojis. And that some of it wouldn’t be easy.

“No, you checked in like you promised. I… I really just missed you, Crane. And…” she started to say, laughing her quiet, nervous laugh. “And I thought maybe during this apocalyptic downtime, instead of spending it apart again, you and I could get to know one another. Without monsters. Without demons. Without anyone else around at all. We have a lot to discuss, of course, but I’m ready to do that now. If you are, that is.”

He didn’t say anything for several minutes as the two of them watched the sun slip beneath the horizon, marking another day humanity was allowed to see the miracles this earth provided them with all the time. Abbie tugged him near and now she was neatly tucked under his arm. The air was cool and she shivered.

“The two Witnesses. Without monsters or demons or whatever other flotsam and jetsam hell could toss our way. I think I’d like to try that,” Crane said, pulling her even closer still, filling in all the spaces in between them. “Yes, I do believe I’d like that a lot.”

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

To Be Continued


	2. One Night In Iowa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Abbie and Crane travel together back toward Sleepy Hollow, getting to know each other better. Much better.
> 
> Beware of change in rating from first chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I decided to do another chapter! And maybe a third will happen. Depending on how I feel after the season/series finale.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Abbie had never imagined it like this. Frantic and needy. That’s how she always imagined their first time. Not this. Never like this.

Softly. Gently. She let him the rest of the way into her heart, her soul, and her life. With the rhythm of the nearby ocean waves, Crane moved above her. In her. He was everywhere and everything. 

His kisses were unbearably hot and she pulled away. Her lips swept over his neck, down his throat to that little dip beneath his Adam's apple. She needed to taste him. To smell him. Saltwater and sweat. She savored the moment. Her greedy mouth moved across his smooth skin and closer to his ear, marking him with her teeth. He was hers. Finally and forever. Nothing could tear them apart after this. 

The small tent limited their movements but that could all be for later. She had her legs wrapped around him, her hands moving over his damp skin. The sea air was cool but they were both covered with a sheen of sweat, sticking to each other more and more with each move. 

Crane wanted to see her face and cursed the darkness but knew better than to turn a flashlight on. He had seen enough of what couples were doing in their tents in the last few weeks when they thought no one could see them. Instead, he pulled away from her hungry mouth and planted soft kisses across her face. 

They had kissed a lot in the last week since she found him by the shore. Kissed, held hands, and enjoyed their time together but somehow knew too many things had to be discussed before they were ready for this. Daniel Reynolds. Joe Corbin’s death. Ezra Mills. Katrina. Betsy. Things that had to be reconciled first before this could happen. 

Now he no idea how he had lived so long without knowing how she felt wrapped around him, her hands skimming everywhere over his body, and although there was no light, he knew her eyes were locked on his. He knew what her face looked like when he first entered her. He had imagined it a million times. There was no way he could be wrong. 

She went to kiss his mouth and missed when he moved, kissing the tip of his nose instead. He lost what ever rhythm he had going and they both laughed and he couldn’t remember ever being so complete and comfortable with anyone before. Years of marriage didn’t even come close to this. Abbie moved, rolling them over so she was now on top, her hands holding his as she rocked above him. 

“Hotel. We’re going to get a hotel room tomorrow night,” she mumbled, taking one of his hands and putting it where she wanted his long fingers. He had that rhythm perfect, too. 

“Yes. I agree, a room and a bed would be a... yes...” he said, losing all concentration as she moaned and tightened around him. Abbie was coming already, so fast and so hard, but she didn’t care. She sank down on him, enjoying how he filled her so completely as the spasms sparked through her body. When she could think again, she moved once more, faster, listening to his breathing change until he too was toppling over the edge. She could barely make out his face but she had never seen anything so sweet in her life as Crane trying to not cry out as he came. Oh, yes. A hotel room was definitely on the agenda for the next few nights. When he was finished, she moved so she was beside him, missing the feeling of him in her already. 

“There’s no going back now,” she said with a sigh, her hand resting on his abdomen and he tried to catch his breath. 

“Was there ever such a chance with us?” he asked, putting his hand over hers and holding it tight. “When I first saw you on the other side of the bars as I sat in your jail cell, I knew there was no going back to the way anything ever was before that very moment. I tried but it was a hopeless endeavor.” 

“I don’t know why I fought this for so long. Fear of loving someone so completely that I would lose myself in the process? Fear of you knowing every last thing about me?” she questioned. He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her fingertips. 

“I plan to take my time getting to know everything about you, Lieutenant. Everything. I haven’t even begun,” he said, his voice a soft and low rumble that made her shiver. 

She snuggled in beside him, pulling the light summer blanket they shared over both of them. The tent now smelled of the ocean and an intoxicating mixture of the two of them as they combined into one and she took a deep breath, hoping to remember every detail about this moment. They would do this again as many times as possible for as long as they both lived, she hoped. But this time? This moment? Would only happen once. And she never wanted to forget it. 

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Abbie sat beside him under the overpass, watching the cars speed by on the highway in the summer rain, water streaming behind them in their wake. The heavy smell of ozone was almost enough to cover the scent of gasoline and the many farms around them. It made her nauseated and she swallowed hard to make the feeling go away. The summer in the Midwest had been dry and hot so far but not today. 

Abbie wrinkled her nose.

"Petrichor." 

"Hmm?"

"The scent after the rain falls on the dry earth.”

"I thought I was smelling the pig truck that just went by."

"It could be that, too,” he said, making a face at whatever smell was drifting their way. “I never imagined we set forth to make a whole nation of... corn.” 

“Aww, don’t be that way. There’s wheat and soybeans, too,” Abbie said, giving him a nudge with her shoulder. Most of their trip thus far had been enjoyable. They would stop off and see whatever sights were available, no matter how ridiculous, and then travel on until nightfall. Sometimes they would sleep in their small tent. Sometimes a hotel room. Most nights, there was very little sleeping involved. 

Today was nothing but rain and bad drivers and the fragrance of America’s agricultural heartland. Crane was tired. Abbie was getting weary of sitting so long on the bike and there had been talk of the fact that they needed a sidecar when maybe what they really needed was a car. 

Jenny, struggling to get over her own grief, understood fully all the reasons he had to get away. With some of the money Joe had left behind for her, she had purchased this bike for Crane to use this summer expecting it back for her own use when he returned. Crane was wondering if Miss Jenny had hoped Abbie would end up with him, making their way back to New York together. 

Abbie took Crane’s hand in hers, their fingers lacing. It was getting warm now, in their leathers and rain gear and she really had no idea where they were. Iowa. That’s all she knew. They had spent hours traveling together by car in the past, hoping to find the one thing they needed to stop some hellish monster. This was different. It was hours of her holding on with him between her legs, the engine roaring beneath them. It was hours waiting for the night so they could be alone together again. Just the thought of it made her hum out a whisper of a moan but Crane heard it and gave her a sideways glance and smirked. He knew that sound very well now. 

“Stop,” she said, giving him a warning look. 

“You should know I’d have you right here and now if there wasn’t a possibility of the local constabulary stumbling upon us,” Crane said, his voice so low it nearly got lost under the rumble of the traffic. 

“Please say that when this rain stops, we can find someplace to stay for the night?” Abbie asked. It was only two o’clock in the afternoon but enough was enough. 

She knew they should travel more today. She had to get back for her sister. She shouldn’t have been gone this long but Jenny kept assuring her she was okay and that things were quiet at home. Jenny would hang up and Abbie would want to cry from how hollow her sister’s voice was. Another loss and this one unbearable. Two days ago, Jenny said that there were some strange things going on and they should come home. She could handle it until they got there... no rush... but don’t take forever exploring America. 

They had been to Las Vegas (where Crane ranted a few times about many things until Abbie won them a fair amount of money), and saw the Grand Canyon, and the mountains of Colorado. He told her about all the things he had seen on his own journey across America, and she told him she should have been with him to see the Black Hills of North Dakota and the wide open skies of Montana. He told her that when he slept out under the stars that she also shared, it felt like she was with him. 

That made Abbie cry about how after they returned from the Catacombs and dealt with all the tragedy, she had been making up for lost time with the wrong person. Crane told her not to worry, they had plenty of time of their own, the rest of their lives actually, and perhaps Miss Jenny would let them use the bike to explore the east coast further. He had always wanted to see St. Augustine. Oh, and the Florida Keys. Definitely the Florida Keys. Abbie was all for the beach with Crane. She wish they were at one right now instead of stuck here.

Crane wrapped an arm around her, tugging her closer to him, and after a minute of the two of them watching the traffic flow by, pulled her onto his lap. He was well past caring about who might see what. This was the 21st century and they could get a room. Just not right now. 

He kissed her, starting off slow and sweet until she opened her mouth to him. The millions of times he imagined this never compared to her actual sweetness. He moaned, a deep grumble in the back of his throat as she placed a hand behind his head, pulling him closer. His legs were already shaking from keeping them from sliding down this steep concrete embankment and when she sat astride him, he was afraid they would both topple down to the highway. She stared into his eyes, her arms wrapped around his neck, and he would take her right here if she kept it up. Before much more could happen, someone honked and yelled some rather lewd encouragements out of their car window, shattering the mood. 

She moved beside him once more, but held onto his hand. They seemed to do that constantly lately when they were beside each other. Admitting to the world that they were truly bonded together and admitting to each other that they didn’t want any more spaces between them. 

“Lieutenant, do you think the rain has slowed down enough for us to continue on?” Crane asked. 

“You’re in the driver’s seat. You tell me if it’s time,” Abbie answered, her insides humming now from that kiss. She squirmed as she thought of climbing behind him on the motorcycle and holding on. Crane noticed and tried to stand up but did it too quickly and nearly rolled all the way down to their waiting ride. She stood up with a lot more grace and laughed. “I take it the answer is yes?”

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

The endless rain drove them indoors. They found an abandoned barn on the side of the highway and pulled the bike in and tried to stay dry. It was warm and humid and Abbie took the opportunity to strip out of her rain gear and leather jacket, leaving them piled on an empty workbench next to Crane’s own jacket. 

“Fascinating,” Crane said, looking at the broken pieces of long-forgotten farm tools left to rot over numerous seasons. “No one appreciates the everyday remnants from the past.” 

“I do,” Abbie said, a slight smile gracing her lips. “I appreciate one remnant a whole lot.”

He smiled, too, and continued to fiddle around with the tools left behind. The one wall was covered with blue Iowa license plates and there was a fading black and white photograph, curled up at the edges now, of a couple who were once young and beautiful. They were just starting out then but now were probably long gone. He was holding her hand in front of this barn when it was freshly painted white, neither of them imagining this is what would become of it. 

The dust danced in the dim light that fought its way through the broken boards of the barn. The rain continued to beat across what was left of the roof, pouring in through gaps and crevices and running across the floor. Most of the barn was empty, the planks covering the ground still relatively intact. Crane was discussing the building of barns, pontificating like his usual self on the work that went into it, but Abbie wasn’t paying much attention. She was looking at the spaces that once made up the lives of people long gone. The dirt now piling up in the corners. The old sled with a broken runner leaning sadly against one of the walls. An old busted radio. Everything had probably been replaced in an other location with something more modern. 

Life swept by fast and could be lost in an instant. Abbie had known that sad fact from way too early in her childhood. Now... the losses just kept piling up. For a while, she had been too scared of living because she was too scared of losing. But not anymore. Every day that she got with Crane was an actual miracle. And she was going to make the most of it. 

Abbie took the old wooden and twisted metal tool from Crane’s hand, put it aside, and pulled him to the center of the structure. It wasn’t raining through the roof directly above them and a sliver of light from the missing barn door reached to this exact spot. 

“Lieutenant?” he asked, puzzled. 

“Show me how to dance, like... you know,” Abbie said, taking his hands in hers and standing across from him. 

“In ye olden days when I was not yet an old auger left behind in a barn?” 

“You can still be a bit of an old ogre when you want to be,” she joked. 

“Auger...”

“I know, I know. Now show me how to dance.”

“Only the two of us?” he asked. 

“From what I know about dancing that has always been the best way to do it.”

“But not very authentic to the time,” he said. Abbie cut him off before he could start giving her long tales about country dances and all the young ladies and men lining up across from one another. She wasn’t looking for Colonial Williamsburg here. 

“Adapt, Crane. Modify. Go with the flow. I know you can.”

“I will acquiesce this time,” Crane said, offering her his arm. 

He showed her where and how to stand and demonstrated the basic steps, bowing to her before they began. He enjoyed her delighted smile as they danced to their own music in the heavy summer air. They moved with the same familiar ease that they shared in everything they did together, laughing more than he could remember ever laughing with her before. Before long, she was in his arms in a decidedly non-18th century fashion, and they slow danced to the sounds of cicadas whirring in the nearby trees and the last of the raindrops on the barn roof. 

“I think the rain has nearly stopped,” he said. 

“I don’t care,” she responded, her cheek against his chest, her arms wrapped around his waist. 

“I know this journey we’ve been on hasn’t always been easy and we both have lost so much. These last few weeks have been a turning point on our path and–” 

“For once, just say it. Please just say it,” she pleaded. She needed to hear the actual words from him.

“I love you. Lieutenant. Abbie. With everything that I am or ever will be.” 

I love you, too,” Abbie said. Crane spun her around their makeshift dance floor before lifting her up so her arms wrapped around his neck while her legs went around his hips. She kissed him as they stumbled toward an old tool bench where he carefully set her down on their jackets and rain gear, making sure it didn’t fall down as he did so. Her arms remained around his neck as she kissed him harder and he couldn’t help but moan against her sweet mouth. She pulled away and licked her lips before she moved onto his neck and he sucked in a breath as her teeth nipped at her favorite spot. 

“I hope I heal before we arrive back home,” he said. She pulled his collar further open, and he tipped his head so she could have whatever she wanted. And Abbie took whatever she wanted, wrapped her legs even tighter around him and pulling him closer. 

“We will both have plenty of time to heal from a few things before we get there,” she said against his skin. “But there are other things...”

“I know. Oh, Abbie, I know.”

She wanted more than just to taste his skin. She needed more than that. She needed to forget the world for now. She needed him to forget it with her. 

He sank to his knees and tugged her heavy boots off, tossing them one by one behind him with an echoing clunk on the floor. She unfastened her jeans and he slid them down her legs, thankful that she was sitting on the pile of discarded coats and not just the wood beneath them. She still had on her panties and when she went to edge them down her legs next, he moved her hands away. 

“I’ll do that,” he commanded. He kissed upside one of her thighs and down the other, his tongue teasing her through the silky red fabric as he crossed over from one leg to another. She shivered, reaching out and twisting her fingers in his hair, and sighed when he kissed her everywhere, pulling aside her panties, his tongue darting out against her. 

The rain had started up again and was hitting the structure with such fury that she could just make out the soft moan of pleasure he made. His eyes tipped up and met hers, the twinkle in them let her know he really was enjoying every second of this as much as she was. It wasn’t long before she was coming and crying out, his name echoing off the empty walls of the barn until the rain washed it into silence. 

He stood up from the uncomfortable floor and Abbie was already reaching for him, unfastening the horrible jeans everyone insisted he wear while riding. Her fingers nimbly popped open the button fly, and she shoved them down his hips along with his boxer briefs. She shed her panties and it was only another second and he was sinking into her, losing all ability to think clearly as he felt her around him once more. 

His hands were planted on the wall behind her and she leaned back, legs wrapped higher around his torso so he could move in deeper. She enjoyed it as he thrust into her with such ferocity and determination, she worried about the table as it slammed backward with each move he made, hitting the brittle barn wood behind it. She hoped it didn’t collapse around them but she could think of worse ways to go. She had faced worse ways to go...

He thrust a few more times and she could tell from his face that he was close. She gripped the edge of the table and tightened around him and that was it. He was done for. He came hard, thrusting into her slower now with each beat of his pulse until he was still. 

“That... was... enjoyable,” he managed to say as soon as he could breathe again.

“No, that was fantastic,” Abbie added, a huge grin lighting up her entire face. 

“Yes, Lieutenant, it was. Next time, though, a bed. A room. My knees... I believe I’m getting too old for that sort of thing,” Crane said, groaning as he pulled out of her, waiting for the joke about his real age that never came this time. She joked less about that now that they were lovers. He cleaned himself up the best he could and tucked everything back in his pants as Abbie hopped off the table and started getting dressed again. Once more, this patch of rain had passed and maybe they could move on a few more miles and find a more permanent structure for the night. Or at least one that didn’t smell like wet manure and old hay. 

When she had finished and was putting her jacket back on, she turned to find him standing by the wall with a tool in his hand, carving a large heart into the wooden surface. 

“Ichabod and Abbie?” he asked when he went to carve something in the center. “I.C. and A.M.?” 

“Crane and Mills?”Abbie suggested with a shoulder shrug. “Mills and Crane? The Lieutenant and The Captain? That might be a bit much, though. We should get out of here before the rain starts again.”

He hurried to finish and when he was done, she smiled to see what he had carved.

_‘The Witnesses’_

That was all. Where their bond began. Where someday it might end. And it was what would hold them together in between. 

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^


End file.
